1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a film cartridge support in a film chamber of a photographic camera for supporting and retaining a film cartridge in position inside the film chamber.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is well known to those skilled in the art, film cartridges generally comprise an open-ended slit cylindrical body, annular end lids closing the opposite ends of the slit cylindrical body, a tubular spool housed within the slit cylindrical body with its opposite ends protruding axially outwardly of the split cylindrical body through respective openings on the end lids, and a length of photosensitive film having one end secured to the spool and the other end used as a leader for engagement with a film winding spool in the camera. An intermediate portion of the film is generally wound around the spool within the split cylindrical body, and a film exit slit is defined in the split cylindrical body for drawing the length of film therethrough.
In most of the latest cameras, the film is automatically wound by a motor. In the camera of this type, when the film is used through to the last available frame, i.e., the film is wound to its end, a film rewinding force is directly applied to the film cartridge through the film, causing the film cartridge to be forcibly rotated within the film chamber. Due to this, a mouthpiece of the film cartridge is displaced angularly and thereby generates an extremely heavy load upon rewinding of the film. This requires a large rewinding force, and can cause problems because the film can not be rewound smoothly.
Also, in order to make a camera compact, attempts have been made recently to reduce the distance between an exposure window in the camera and a film chamber for accommodating the film cartridge. This reduction makes it difficult to keep each frame of the film flat at the exposure window.
To avoid these inconveniences, the rotation of the film cartridge must be limited to allow smooth winding and rewinding of the film and to keep the film lying flat on the exposure window. To do so, a stopper means is installed on an inside wall of the film chamber. The stopper means is engagable with the film cartridge mouthpiece, and it thereby limits rotation of the film cartridge.
FIG. 1 is a schematic rear elevational view showing an internal construction of the conventional camera 1.
In the camera 1 constructed as shown in FIG. 1, because of the presence of both of a rewinding fork 8 and a stopper 9 for regulating the rotation of the film cartridge, the film cartridge can not be inserted into a film chamber 2 from the back of the camera in a direction generally orthogonal to the back surface of the camera, and it has to be inserted thereinto generally diagonally from below at the back of the camera.
In order to overcome the above disadvantages, there has been proposed a camera shown in FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 2, the camera body comprises a bottom cover 11 having a cut portion 11a, and a back cover 12 having a projected portion 12a adapted to cover up the cut portion 11a in the bottom cover 11 for shielding external light incident inside of the camera when the back cover 12 is in position to close the camera back. In the camera, since the cut portion 11a is formed in the bottom cover 11, the film cartridge can be inserted into the film chamber easily.
FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the conventional film cartridge. As shown in FIG. 4, the cylindrical body is identified by 13. The film exit slit 14 defined in the split cylindrical body 13 extends axially over the length of the body 13 and is delimited by a mouthpiece 15 integral with the body 13. The mouthpiece portion 15 has light shielding cloth 16 for avoiding any possible entry of the external light into the cylindrical body 13 while permitting the passage of the film therethrough.
In a camera where the rewinding fork 8 is arranged at the top portion thereof as shown in FIG. 1, since the bottom cover 11 has the cut portion 11a as described above, the cut portion 11a tends to constitute an obstruction to the aesthetic design of the camera as a whole. Furthermore, in that camera, a linkage mechanism 6 for connecting the rewinding fork 8 to a driving motor 4 is required, therefore, the size of the camera becomes larger and the number of the component parts of the camera as a whole increases.
In order to overcome the above disadvantages, there has been proposed the camera shown in FIG. 3.
As is apparent from FIG. 3, since the rewinding fork 8 is arranged at the lower portion of the camera body, the linkage mechanism 5 is arranged only at the lower portion thereof, and therefore, the camera can be made compact, resulting in a reduction of the cost of the camera.
However, since the camera of FIG. 3 is a version of the camera for FIG. 1 wherein the rewinding fork 8 and the stopper 9 are moved from the upper portion of the camera to the lower portion thereof, the film cartridge can not be inserted into the film chamber 2 from the back side of the camera body in the direction orthogonal to the back surface thereof. Furthermore, in this case, the film cartridge is inserted thereinto from the rear of the camera body in an inclined direction to the back surface thereof, since a cut portion corresponding to the cut portion 11a of the bottom cover 11 can not be formed in the top cover. Although the bottom cover 11 of the bottom portion of the camera body is not noticeable when the camera is placed on a surface, the cut portion if formed in the top cover of the camera body would be noticeable when the camera is placed on a surface, and this would constitute an obstruction to the aesthetic design of the camera. In order to facilitate the loading of the film cartridge into the film chamber 2 easily, the film chamber has been increased in size by adding a space 2a to accommadate the film cartridge. However, a large space 2a makes the camera body bulky.